Pages

October 3, 2008

ALDS 2: Red Sox 7, Angels 5

Wow. After Chone Figgins tripled off Justin Masterson to begin the bottom of the eighth and scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly off Jonathan Papelbon, Boston stormed back against Francisco Rodriguez in the top of the ninth.

David Ortiz pounded Frod's first pitch to deep right. Reggie Willits leapt at the wall, the ball hit in, and then fell out of, his glove, and Flo had a stand-up double. Coco Crisp went in to run before Kevin Youkilis grounded to third. With J.D. Drew at the plate, Frod tried to pick Crisp off second. His throw to Willie Aybar was in plenty of time, but Aybar neglected to tag the Crisp and Ococ slid back in between the shortstop's legs. Drew swung and missed on two pitches and worked the count to 2-2 before crushing a home run just to the right of dead center.

It broke the tie and gave the Red Sox a 7-5 lead. Frod continued to melt down, allowing an infield hit to Jason Bay and a line drive single to Mark Kotsay. Jason Varitek hit into a double play to end the inning.

Bot had come in after Figgins's triple and had retired three straight Angels in the eighth on only seven pitches. Torii Hunter began LA's last gasp with a hard bunt towards third. Youkilis sprinted in, bare-handed the ball and fired to first. One out. Pinch-hitter Gary Matthews popped a full count pitch towards the third base camera pit. Yook ran over, timed his leap, and snared the ball over the heads of the crouching photogs. Then Bot whiffed Howie Kendrick to give Boston a 2-0 lead in the series.

The ninth-inning dugout TBS shots told you everything you needed to know about this series. The Angels were in shock, staring out at the field with glassy, dead eyes. As Frod struggled to get outs in the ninth, they knew they were playing their last home game of the 2008 season. As the Red Sox rolled to their 11th straight post-season win over the Angels, they knew they were finished. (And WTF was with the announcing team of Chip Caray and Buck Martinez? Were they auditioning for jobs as LAA's Hawk Harrelson-type announcers? I watched the last 3-4 innings on mute.)

The game looked initially like a rout, as the Sox scored four times in the first. But the Angels chipped away, scoring one in the bottom of the first, on three straight singles from Mark Teixeira, Vladimir Guerrero and Hunter. Boston made it 5-1 on back-to-back doubles by Alex Cora and Jacoby Ellsbury, but the Angels got that run right back. Juan Rivera walked to start the fourth and scored on Chone Figgins's singled to left.

Matsuzaka walked Teixeira and Vlad to begin the fifth and Hunter singled home Tex. After that, Dice bore down, striking out Rivera, getting Kendrick on a fly to center, and retiring Kendry Morales on a pop to third. But that was the night for Dice (5-8-3-3-5), who threw 108 pitches in five innings, including 61 (!) in his final two innings.

Hideki Okajima pitched a perfect sixth, but allowed hits to Teixeira and Guerrero to begin the seventh. At that point, those two guys were 8-for-8 in reaching base. Masterson came in and got three outs, but not before walking two more Angels (the first on a blown call by the home plate umpire) and forcing in LA's fourth run.

The Red Sox wasted a golden scoring chance in the sixth. With one out, Kotsay reached on Hunter's error on a fly ball right at him in center. Varitek singled, chasing Santana, and Jose Arredondo walked Cora to load the bases. Ellsbury fanned on a slider in the dirt and Dustin Pedroia (0-for-5) grounded to second. Boston also could do nothing with a couple of two-out singles from Drew and Bay in the seventh.

But in the end, Boston dined out on monkey burgers. They get to enjoy another off day on Saturday before getting back to some broom work on Sunday.***

Mike Lowell calls Game 2 "a monster game for them and a tremendous opportunity for us".

The Angels are facing the possibility of heading back to Boston down 0-2. The worst case scenario for the Red Sox has them tied 1-1 with Josh Beckett set to pitch on Sunday night.

Yesterday, Beckett had what Terry Francona called "a pretty aggressive side [session] ... Nothing was cut short. His fastball had some finish to it and he threw all his pitches." Depending on who you asked, he threw either 65 pitches (John Farrell) or 67 (Francona).

[T]he extension that he was able to get with his fastball, the down-and-away area to a righthanded hitter, which is always going to indicate the furthest extension from the throwing arm [was good]. There was no discomfort in the oblique. So provided that there's no concerns coming out of his exam, or a follow-up exam tomorrow, he should be on line for Sunday.

Lowell probably will not be in the lineup tonight. Francona may rest Lowell and play Mark Kotsay (7-for-18 against Santana) at first, moving Kevin Youkilis to third. (More on Yook's great play late in Game 1.)

A Boston victory tonight would set a franchise record of nine consecutive postseason victories. The MLB record is 12, set twice by the Yankees. ... In the eight wins so far, the pitching staff has a 1.88 ERA. ... A win tonight would also set a major league record for consecutive playoff victories against a single opponent (11).

It's incredible; people give Drew shit for looking calm instead of intense or whatever, but being calm is what makes him great. He just talked about his back going tight on him after the 8th, and yet he didn't let it affect him in the 9th against Frod. How can you not love that man?

OK, I have to admit. The Monkey thing doesn't really bother me. Let them enjoy their fun and games. I'm just glad to see the little guy has chosen to sling his turds at his own team :)Now if he would just whip it out and start jacking off on their mega jumbotron, I'd really be psyched.

The best part was knowing that the Angels had something like a 0.0000001% shot against Bot in the 9th, and knowing that the Angels knew that too. MFY fans had that with Rivera for so many years. We have it now.

Question - When will the four letter network and others start giving Terry Francona some credit against the best manager in baseball. He got squat when Torre was in NY and he gets squat against Sciosia.

At the end they were showing fraud talking to scary face gaybar. what can they be saying? "yeah we suck, you aren't that good. We are all hype. You know our division really sucks and being 20 up on those losers doesn't make us good. God the AL East is really where the talent is. We play near LA so we get a lot of attention but we don't deserve it because we suck pubics. Awesome, they just set a record!"

Now if he would just whip it out and start jacking off on their mega jumbotron, I'd really be psyched

Fucking hell!

Things in The Bar were good -- how could they not be? My wife comes back from a business trip and gives me a Red Sox cap. I never buy gear for myself but am glad to wear it when someone gets it for me.

That JD Dong was something else.

Eat it raw, K-Rod.

Sweep Sunday? Is it possible? I never thought we'd be able to win two in Anaheim.

So sorry I had to bail on the thread last night, I bet I missed a great party. I just couldn't stand the Angels broadcast any more. (Don't tell me that was a national b'cast, I won't believe it!) So to watch the game w/o sound I need to turn off my computer and concentrate.

Plus one of our dogs, our old girl, was having a terrible night and needed me.